Quote:
Originally Posted by Phat Mack
The real question to me is: is razz worth saving?
OFF THE ISLAND! NOW!
Hilo was the game that skinned the suckers. Razz has aspects that are unique to it and almost any game like that creates unique mistakes to exploit. I'm fond of razz and I think people don't want to play it because they don't understand these unique situations. If you don't recognize those spots and play them well, it seems like a purely mechanical game where the best looking hand gets the pot.
The spot that comes up most often is the player with the clearly second-best hand (not a hand that is possibly behind but a hand that is absolutely behind another hand) raising/jamming in a 3-way pot not just to potentially fold out another hand but for value. That exact situation comes up really infrequently in other games, but all the time in Razz.
A lot of people know that a smooth draw is a favorite over a rough made hand on Fifth, for example, but you don't have smooth draws often, so it's important to know when your 86 draw is a favorite over a made hand like a Jack, and more important yet to know when your Jack with a redraw is a favorite over a Seven draw that has misapplied this concept and is jamming you.
It's a cool game, but not if you just peek at it.